Hi Friends.
I got up early in the morning for some of Juan's special super-light pancakes ( he whips up the eggs separate). Then Jessica, a med student and soon to be doctor with whom we worked at the children's home, came by to take me to church. We walked down, down, down to her church "Honor and Glory", where I found the leaders already on their knees praying ( they had started an hour earlier). The sermon was from Moses encounter with God in the burning bush ( Exodus 3:10-12). The gist of which was that God is with us and that He calls us to confront power and to set people free. What matters is not me or you. What matters is not the plan or the strategy. It's God that matters and that He has chosen us.
Jessica then walked with me all the way to the top of the hill, to Juan and Isidra's church. There I listened as each one of several brothers and sisters shared how God was speaking to them. Psalm 95:1-2 was the word that stuck with me, God invites us to come celebrate with Him, to recognize the reality that His Truth and Justice stand above the lies and injustice that surround us down here.
Juan went to the local Chinese restaurant on his motorcycle and picked up His favorite dish for our farewell meal. Today is a special day honoring Francisco Morazon, the founder of Honduras. Juan sees this man's life as a life of sacrifice to build a country where people could live a good life in peace. May God use Juan and all my friends here to make it so.
When the taxi dropped me off at the bus station, there I met Jenny's mom. She'd brought some clothes I'd forgotten at her house. She stayed to see me off and make sure I didn't forget my backpack. Gracias Senora Funes!
The bus trip to Siguatepeque went quickly. I decided to make friends with my seatmate even if he was sitting in my window seat. I think talking with him and finding out about his life ( he was on his way home from his cousin's wedding in Olancho and was going back to work in a steel fabrication plant in San Pedro Sulas) was way more interesting than picking up a little more scenery. Then too, there was more room to stretch my long gringo legs on the aisle.
I arrived some time before the team made it in from San Pedro Sulas, still I wasn't alone. Luis who had worked as the agronomist at Nuevo Amanecer ( New Dawn) in the early years was there, too. We had a couple hours to catch up. He had been studying for his masters, focusing on insect pests, at the University of Arkansas. A difficulty with his visa had forced him and his American wife, Christy, to return to Honduras and work until it is straightened out. They found jobs with World Gospel Outreach where they have been working with orphaned kids. Luis will be working with us all next week as we return to Nuevo Amanecer.
A couple hours later my friends rolled in. How great to see them, it seems like months since we last saw each other. Tomorrow we'll journey together to for another reunion at N.A. Till then, adios.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Standing on Picacho, Jesus Blesses Tegucigalpa
Que tal, amigos?
My last full day in Tegucigalpa, I decided to go some place I haven't been.... United Nations Park on Mount Picacho. This park sits high above the city and the view is something else. I started early because getting there is a trek. First I catch a bus to the central market ( nearly all the buses go there). Then I walk to a bus on the other side of the market, which in turn takes me to the steep curving road that winds up toward Picacho. At this point I sardine my way into a minibus "can" hurtling toward the peak. I was hanging on with all my might next to a wide open door! We passed some pretty fancy real estate on our way ( many of the embassies are up here, including the US embassy). The bus let me out at the top and continued on it's way to La Tigre . As I ambled the last mile along the road to the park gate. I saw maybe 30 high-school students with hoes clearing away invasive plants from the grounds.By the viewpoint stood a little cafe where I bought a coffee and sat down to gaze at the city far below. Further along I saw rock-climbers practicing their stuff on the vertical rock cliffs . Then I came to a replica of a Mayan temple which descended stepping down into large garden, where stood a 4-story high statue of Christ with arms outstretched in blessing. It made me think of the statue of Jesus that stands on Sugar-loaf mountain in Rio, which I've only seen in pictures. Grandiose? Yes, but I found a verse inscribed at the bottom that made it more personal: Luke 24:46-50, which ends with " while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven." I thought of that last gift from his hands, his blessing, falling upon the people of this city.
In another corner of the garden I found a statue of Confuscius within a very formal Chinese garden where many of his words were hidden, almost like surprises here and there. Sometimes that is the way truth comes to us. I was fascinated as I walked through the gardens at the diversity of plants, most of which were new to me. I wonder how birds and insects appreciate and engage with this world ... we seem to have forgotten.
Later I returned to the city,and wandered through streets marked with graffitti , punctuated with splinters and shards of glass from last years demonstrations, a message that doesn't make it to the newspapers anymore but still echos off the concrete and asphalt. There I found a little souvenir shop and startled the owner by buying something.
After dinner, back at Juan and Isidra's, I accompanied them to their church where a member and friend was getting married. This was a little different since both the bride and groom were in their late sixties and had their adult children standing in the place of best men and bride's maids. Everyone, even the kids were dressed like they stepped out of a magazine. You'd never know we were in the scruffy barrio of Flor del Campo. I think that the picture that will stick in my mind was the little flower girl who went back and picked up all the rose petals she'd earlier scattered all down the aisle.
Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll be heading for Siguatepeque to join my friends from Bethany church after lunch. I feel so much more at home in this place, thanks to my friends Jenny, Juan, Isidra, and Guillermo. So different from the first time 10 years ago, when we were hesitant even to get out of the van. See you tomorrow.
Hasta Manana, Gilberto.
My last full day in Tegucigalpa, I decided to go some place I haven't been.... United Nations Park on Mount Picacho. This park sits high above the city and the view is something else. I started early because getting there is a trek. First I catch a bus to the central market ( nearly all the buses go there). Then I walk to a bus on the other side of the market, which in turn takes me to the steep curving road that winds up toward Picacho. At this point I sardine my way into a minibus "can" hurtling toward the peak. I was hanging on with all my might next to a wide open door! We passed some pretty fancy real estate on our way ( many of the embassies are up here, including the US embassy). The bus let me out at the top and continued on it's way to La Tigre . As I ambled the last mile along the road to the park gate. I saw maybe 30 high-school students with hoes clearing away invasive plants from the grounds.By the viewpoint stood a little cafe where I bought a coffee and sat down to gaze at the city far below. Further along I saw rock-climbers practicing their stuff on the vertical rock cliffs . Then I came to a replica of a Mayan temple which descended stepping down into large garden, where stood a 4-story high statue of Christ with arms outstretched in blessing. It made me think of the statue of Jesus that stands on Sugar-loaf mountain in Rio, which I've only seen in pictures. Grandiose? Yes, but I found a verse inscribed at the bottom that made it more personal: Luke 24:46-50, which ends with " while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven." I thought of that last gift from his hands, his blessing, falling upon the people of this city.
In another corner of the garden I found a statue of Confuscius within a very formal Chinese garden where many of his words were hidden, almost like surprises here and there. Sometimes that is the way truth comes to us. I was fascinated as I walked through the gardens at the diversity of plants, most of which were new to me. I wonder how birds and insects appreciate and engage with this world ... we seem to have forgotten.
Later I returned to the city,and wandered through streets marked with graffitti , punctuated with splinters and shards of glass from last years demonstrations, a message that doesn't make it to the newspapers anymore but still echos off the concrete and asphalt. There I found a little souvenir shop and startled the owner by buying something.
After dinner, back at Juan and Isidra's, I accompanied them to their church where a member and friend was getting married. This was a little different since both the bride and groom were in their late sixties and had their adult children standing in the place of best men and bride's maids. Everyone, even the kids were dressed like they stepped out of a magazine. You'd never know we were in the scruffy barrio of Flor del Campo. I think that the picture that will stick in my mind was the little flower girl who went back and picked up all the rose petals she'd earlier scattered all down the aisle.
Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll be heading for Siguatepeque to join my friends from Bethany church after lunch. I feel so much more at home in this place, thanks to my friends Jenny, Juan, Isidra, and Guillermo. So different from the first time 10 years ago, when we were hesitant even to get out of the van. See you tomorrow.
Hasta Manana, Gilberto.
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